All In Favor
by OddLittleCreature
Summary: The gang anticipates their first vacation in years after the chaos has simmered down, and are excited for Crona to now tag along. But this might be the week that changes everything for Maka and Crona after two years of a close yet undefined friendship.


Maka Albarn clenched the dewy grass on the hill between her fists as she inhaled a few shallow breaths. It was through strands of her long blonde hair that she could see the uppermost majestic flags of the Academy billowing in the distance as the last of many school days commenced. Soft rainclouds were developing in the east, just over the mountains and the brief spurts of sandy desert. Her entire body hurt, though it didn't matter because, in less than 24 hours, they'd all be headed for the beach and would be far away from school for five days. However, Maka sourly determined that none of this made any difference to Dr. Stein today. It may as well have been day one of training, as he pressured them further and further with relentless velocity.

As she rose to her feet and regained some of her strength, she could hear a bustling from the others, particularly Black Star and Kid as they got into a spat. Though it was a cool and windy day, the majority of them were overheated and coated with thin sheens of sweat from their labors. Only the most powerful of the three were dry as a bone: Death the Kid, Black Star-who had a maddening attention complex today-

-and of course, Crona the Demon Swordsman. He was the only one there who hadn't even lost his breath. The power and stamina he had developed over the last two years were astonishing. It was the first year that he would be going with them to the beach, now that peace had been restored after two intense years of battling and with the final restorations to Death's academy. Maka blushed with pride a little bit at Crona's ease of fitting in with their friends now, and even his stuttering had decreased. His shiny hair fluttered around the neckline of his black button-up, as it had grown significantly longer over time. They caught each other's eyes and she felt the heat rush to her face.

"Are you alright?" Crona mouthed to her with a small, gentle smile. She nodded and looked away from him. Dr. Stein was standing in the distance with his spine to them, smoking his fourth cigarette in the last few minutes; his lab coat shuddered like a flag.

"Again, children. One more time...Black Star and Maka. Then we will call it a day." Stein announced flatly. Maka internally groaned in agony and rubbed her blistered hands along the outside of her elbows. The last thing in the world she wanted to do was deal with fighting Black Star, or better yet of fighting his obnoxious ego.

"Sure! Normally I wouldn't kick a girl's ass, but I have a winning streak to keep up!" Black Star taunted loudly, and the others stepped back as Maka glared bullets at him.

"Whatever. Let's get this over with...prepare to lose that lame streak."

Maka could feel Soul squeeze her left shoulder and the magnetism of his transformation, followed by the rush of a cool handle against her flush palm as she held her weapon once more; she grinned ear-to-ear in a final anticipation.

Let's teach him a lesson for being an annoying jerk today, huh Maka?

Let's do it, Soul.

The air changed. She gripped her scythe tighter and descended the hill. The two immediately took a swipe at each other and sparks fired across the grass. Crona frowned and eased in as he saw the exhaustion register on Maka's features with every close encounter with the ninja. Liz, Patti, and Kid cheered on with the thrill of knowing that it was all almost over. But Crona knew something wasn't quite right. The exchanged blows became more and more aggressive as Black Star desperately tried to take a short victory, but Maka wasn't having it. The sky lit up in sparks of blue and yellows from each opponent. But as they fell to the earth, it wasn't solid enough to catch them. In the middle of a solid blow to her scythe, Black Star slipped. Maka could feel the spray of the dirt in a panic, followed by a panicked grunt. And that was when she felt the searing hot pain of his nunchucks slamming into her thigh. The noise ceased except for the ghostly shrill scream of her pain as she was hurtled several feet and rolled four times over, coming to rest on her stomach and elbow. Black Star won, but he didn't seem to mind so much when he realized the damage inflicted to her.

"-ah, hey Maka! Are you alive? Awwh sorry, I didn't mean to hit you that hard-"

Soul's palm was flat against her shoulder as she lifted up just in time to see Black Star bolting over to help her up. That is until a terrifying black mass overcame the hill like a wall...a wall of chaos, of pitch black waves and electricity: Crona. He was like a firey magnet to Maka as he instinctively protected her from Black Star's blows, far too late, unfortunately. Even Dr. Stein stared on in a silent awe as Black Star became afraid of the Demon Swordsman. He skids to a stop, and the waves of purple and black evaporated into thin air, the sword still etching a scorched black mark into the earth. Crona's eyes were as clouded as a zombie's as he and Ragnarok meshed into one being for a brief moment. As they returned to a baby blue, he softened his stance.

"Jesus...it looks like Ragnarok has a crush." Black Star muttered, still shaken. Crona sat down and rested his elbows on his jeaned upper thighs in bewilderment. Maka leaned up and rubbed her outer thigh as the red mark began to swell. Doctor Stein was already headed down the hill in satisfaction as the others crowded in to help Maka.

"...s-sorry, Blackstar. I was worried that she could get hurt again." Crona pleaded.

"That will be all. Have a great summer, children." Stein called over his back. His thoughts were occupied with his fascination of Crona's strengthening abilities, and he knew that Maka was never in better hands. Class was dismissed for three months.


End file.
